172: Chapter 172: Persimmon 172: Chapter 172: Persimmon “`

After thinking it over, she still felt uneasy and admonished for a long while.

Then she added, “The weather’s gotten hot, and you have to walk such a long mountain road.

You mustn’t overheat.

Why doesn’t Laosi bring a tube of water for you to drink?

The persimmons in the vegetable garden should be ripe by now.

How about I pick a couple for you to quench your thirst on the way?”

It was only for Wang Yongzhu that she was willing to part with them.

Ever since arriving, Wang Yongzhu had never ventured into the vegetable garden.

Though she had previously enjoyed stir-fried green persimmons with chili, which were sour and appetizing.

On hearing Old Granny Zhang’s proposal, she became interested.

Following behind Old Granny Zhang, she went to take a look in the vegetable garden.

The Wang Family’s vegetable garden was situated behind the Wang Family’s home, with a small door leading out from the yard to about an acre of vegetable plots.

Peasant families relied on their vegetable gardens all year round.

Most households tended them with great care.

The diligence of a family’s housewife, her ability to farm and manage daily life, can usually be discerned from the state of their vegetable garden.

The Wang Family was full of diligent people, except for the former Wang Yongzhu.

Thus, the vegetable plots were neatly arranged, row upon row, each one planted with a variety of vegetables.

Even though it had been several days since anyone had taken care of them, with weeds growing wildly, the owner’s meticulous nature was still apparent.

Now at the juncture of spring and summer, the early-planted persimmons and eggplant seedlings had grown thick and sturdy, already tied up to stakes with round, plump green and yellow persimmons hanging from them.

The eggplants had blossomed, and some already bore small eggplants the size of a baby’s fist, a cute, dusky purple.

Yellow flowers climbed high of their own accord, with the breeze revealing many slightly spiky, adult finger-thick, young cucumbers among the green leaves.

Not far off, a bed of chives was enticingly lush and green.

There were also bitter melons climbing up against the courtyard wall, bearing many yellow blossoms, and further away there were other plants like amaranth, wood ear plants, and long beans.

Wang Yongzhu looked around with regret, wondering why she had never thought to visit the vegetable garden before.

Looking at all these natural sources of vitamins, all these diet foods on the ground!

Wang Yongzhu remembered these persimmons were rarely seen in her original world.

This variety of persimmon was actually very ancient, not a hybrid developed later.

They might look only half-red or yellow, or even green, but in fact, they were already red inside, deliciously sour and sweet with plenty of juice and a sandy texture.

She had seen them in a farm once and even picked and tasted them herself.

The flavor was so memorable that she still relished it to this day.

She couldn’t take it anymore, she couldn’t wait!

Wang Yongzhu walked up to the persimmon row and started looking for the reddest one to try first.

Seeing her daughter truly wanting to eat, Old Granny Zhang hurriedly stepped forward and, with her eagle-eyed precision, picked three or four persimmons the size of a child’s fist, “You should have just told me you wanted to eat, and I would have picked them for you.

Don’t get your hands poked.

Alright, shall I go wash these few for you?

They’re sure to be sweet—”

Wang Yongzhu nodded, her mouth watering, and pointed towards the cucumber vine, “Mom, wash a couple of cucumbers for me too, the ones with spines!”

Had it been anyone else, Old Granny Zhang would certainly have scolded them for wasting food.

Who eats cucumbers like that?

So young and just finger-thick, what a waste!

If you let them grow to the size of an arm and the spines fall off, two or three of them would be enough for half a basin when fried.

But this was for her own daughter.

If she wanted stars from the sky, Old Granny Zhang would fetch them, let alone two cucumbers.

If her daughter wanted to eat, she’d reserve an entire row of cucumbers for her!

Old Granny Zhang picked out two tender cucumbers, washed them herself, placed them into a clean small bamboo basket, covered it with a clean cloth, and handed it to Wang Yongzhu, “Poor thing, my old girl, eating nothing but vegetable porridge these past few days, you must be so hungry, even wanting the persimmons and cucumbers you never liked before.

Alright, I’ll give you some money later.

You can go to town and buy some fatty meat, and tonight we’ll have a feast!”

Wang Yongzhu had just bitten into a persimmon — oh, the texture was velvety, the juice sour and sweet — it was incredibly delicious!

As she savored the taste, she heard Old Granny Zhang mention buying fatty meat, and she almost choked.

“`

Waving her hands hurriedly, “No need, this is enough.

Well, it’s getting late, mom, Fourth Brother and I are leaving—”

As she spoke, she ran out with the small bamboo basket in her arms.

If she didn’t leave now, could it be that she really had to buy some fatty pork to eat?

It would have been a waste of all the effort it took to lose that weight through sheer willpower!

Without looking back, she left the village, only to realize Wang Yongping hadn’t followed her?

Turning her head, Wang Yongzhu saw what was happening.

What’s this?

Wang Yongping was just a short distance behind her, and the person with him, wasn’t that Song Chongjin?

Why did she run into him as soon as she stepped out?

Last time at home, the family discussed giving Song Chongjin some silver to thank him, and asked Wang Yongping to deliver it, but at first, he stubbornly refused to accept it.

The two pushed it back and forth until Mother Song, who was inside the house, was alerted by the commotion and came out, coincidently witnessing the scene without understanding what the fuss was about.

She inquired, “What’s all this?

What are you pushing for?”

Song Chongjin’s hand paused, and Wang Yongping took the opportunity to shove the silver into Song Chongjin’s hand, chuckling, “It’s nothing, Auntie, Brother Song and I were just messing around.”

Then he clapped Song Chongjin on the shoulder, “Alright, I need to get going!”

Having said that, he took off running.

As for what happened to the Song Family after that, whether Mother Song ever found out, no one knew.

Now, seeing Song Chongjin, it looked like he was also heading to town.

Standing in place while munching on a persimmon, she waited for a bit, and then the two of them walked on together.

Wang Yongping spoke carelessly, “I’d actually arranged to go to town with Brother Song today.

I wanted you to wait a bit, but you ran off as if there was a dog chasing you, not listening to a word I said—”

Wang Yongzhu glared at him.

Was he trying to kill her?

Saying that she was being chased by a dog—was he calling Old Granny Zhang a dog?

These days, what Wang Yongping feared the most was his sister.

Seeing the glare in her eyes, his legs turned to jelly instantly.

Immediately begging for mercy, “It’s my fault, I was the one chasing you, I’m the dog…”

The desperation in Wang Yongping’s plea for survival was something Wang Yongzhu simply couldn’t bear to watch.

Was this even a real brother?

He was nothing more than a leg attachment, and a dim-witted one at that!

It was like latching onto a relative for support!

Not bothering to fuss over him, she nodded politely at Song Chongjin and took a persimmon out of the bamboo basket, “Would you like one?”

She was still eating one herself, and it would have been embarrassing not to offer him one after being seen.

Though she did feel rather pained to part with it.

She had vaguely heard people say that Mother Song, because of health reasons, did nothing but prepare three meals a day for herself and occasionally some needlework.

The Song Family had no land to partition, and although they could have cultivated a vegetable garden around the house, nobody taught Song Chongjin how to do it, and what did he, a young man, know about growing vegetables?

At most, he could turn over a couple of furrows, scatter some vegetable seeds, and then leave their survival up to fate.

Besides, his pride was considerable.

Boys in the village around his age, when they were disdained even by dogs in their early teens, would sneak a couple of persimmons from one household’s garden or a few cucumbers from another.

If caught, they would get scolded and then laugh it off with a sheepish grin.